Turns out that human beings aren't the only living things on this planet that indulge in the world of mathematics. A new study shows that plants perform arithmetic division in order to make sure they don't run out of their starch reserves over night.
During the night, the plants decide at what rate they can consume starch so that they can have a steady flow overnight.
"This is the first concrete example in a fundamental biological process of such a sophisticated arithmetic calculation." said mathematical modeler professor Martin Howard from the John Innes Centre, an "independent, international center of excellence in plant science and microbiology."
Plants typically convert sunlight and carbon dioxide into energy, a process that suffers from the obvious consequences of night. Thanks to instruments within a plant's leaf, the plant knows just how much starch reserves are existent, and then, by using its internal biological clock, the plant determines how to steadily go through its store of energy. If S molecules stand for biological drivers of starch consumption, and T molecules stand for time, or the prevention of the consumption of starch, then the rate at which a plant will go through its starch is S divided by T.
"The capacity to perform arithmetic calculation is vital for plant growth and productivity," said metabolic biologist professor Alison Smith."Understanding how plants continue to grow in the dark could help unlock new ways to boost crop yield.
Plants are so precise that typically around 95 percent of the stored starch is used up by dawn. It's this exactness that led the team of John Innes researchers to conclude that plants are using math.
"If the starch store is used too fast, plants will starve and stop growing during the night. If the store is used too slowly, some of it will be wasted," explained professor Smith.
You can read the full published study detailing the findings in the journal eLife.